


Warm love in a cold world

by Squishmitten



Category: Holby City
Genre: Berena Secret Santa, F/F, Prompt - snow, Wintery fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-09-24 14:41:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17102498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squishmitten/pseuds/Squishmitten
Summary: It’s a snowy night in Holby, and Bernie and Serena have very different attitudes to the cold, wet stuff.





	Warm love in a cold world

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ddagent](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ddagent/gifts).



> This story was orphaned and cut adrift when my giftee pulled out of the Secret Santa event. I think it’s only fitting that it therefore goes to ddagent as a little thank you for organising BSS ‘18 ❤️

Serena woke slowly, knowing something wasn’t quite right. Bernie wasn’t beside her in the bed. They didn’t always sleep completely wrapped around each other, although sometimes they did. However, even on the nights when they drifted further apart in the king sized bed, they were almost always touching. It might be feet tangled together, a hand in the dip of the waist, or even just bums lightly pressed together, if they were sleeping back to back. 

She turned over to see Bernie standing in front of the window, with the curtains thrown wide open. 

“Bernie darling, are you deliberately trying to give Jill over the road a free show?” Serena asked, voice gravelly with sleep. 

Bernie slept naked, even on the coldest of nights, stating that she always became tangled up in any kind of night clothes. Serena wasn’t complaining in the slightest at having a naked Wolfe in her bed. It _had_ made for an interesting incident in the early days, when Jason had tried to treat them to a surprise breakfast in bed and had come into the room without knocking. If people could actually die of embarrassment, Serena had no doubt she would have had a couple of corpses on her hands. Needless to say, it wasn’t a mistake Jason repeated. 

“It’s snowing. I thought the light coming through the curtains seemed odd when I woke up, so I took a look. It must have been snowing for hours, and it’s absolutely beautiful out there,” said Bernie, softly.

“Oh god, I bloody hate snow. Thank goodness neither of us is working tomorrow,” Serena peered at the clock on her bedside table. “Or today rather,” she corrected herself. 

Serena turned on her side, so she could easier admire the long, lean form of her wife.

“Come and have a look, Serena. It’s lovely out there.” 

“I think I’ll stick with the current view, if that’s okay. It doesn’t get any better than that. Unless of course, you want to come back to bed?” Serena lifted the corner of the duvet, invitingly. 

Bernie smiled, and crossed the room to climb back in bed.

“Holy Christ! How long were you standing there, woman? You’re freezing!” gasped Serena, as Bernie wrapped herself around her. She squealed, as Bernie pressed chilly hands into the small of her back. “Evil creature.”

“So, why do you dislike snow so much, my love?” Bernie asked, burying her cold nose into the soft and warm crook of her wife’s neck.

“If the snow doesn’t clear by morning, it will trigger a hospital full of slips and falls, poor old dears with hypothermia, who have had to choose whether to eat or heat their homes, and the victims of RTCs involving people who don’t adjust their driving to the road conditions. It’s the same every time we get more than an inch or two of snow.” Serena ran her hands over Bernie’s smooth back, which was quickly warming to a more normal body temperature. “Not to mention that it always makes me feel like an old woman. I’ve seen so many people in with fractures and dislocations due to slipping on ice, that it’s made me paranoid. I end up shuffling along like an eighty year old,” Serena admitted.

They fell silent for a while, just enjoying the sensation of being in each other’s arms, something neither of them ever took for granted. Serena was just drifting back to sleep when Bernie spoke.

“I love the snow. When I was out in Afghanistan, and the temperatures were in the high forties, we would all fantasise about snow and ice. We would be sweating and sweltering in theatre, talking about skiing and ice skating, snowmen and snowball fights. Anything to try and take our minds off the heat.” It wasn’t often Bernie talked about her time in the RAMC, beyond occasionally sharing an anecdote about employing this procedure or that and it’s success or failure.

“When Elinor was little, she used to drive me mad when it snowed. She would pester and pester me to let her go out and play in it. So I would wrap her up and let her go out in the back garden. Every time, without fail, she would be back indoors within ten minutes, crying, somehow completely soaked to the skin, and absolutely freezing. Every single time. Still, it did then always lead to cuddling up together with hot chocolate afterwards, so it wasn’t all bad.”

Bernie stroked her wife’s soft, greying hair and gently kissed her. She loved it when Serena told sweet little stories about her daughter. It had taken her a lot of time and hard work in therapy, but these days, thoughts of Elinor generally brought more smiles to Serena’s face than tears to her eyes. 

“I always had the _best_ time with the kids if I was around when we had snow. Marcus point blank refused to take Cam and Charlotte out to play in it, because he hates the cold. It was one of the only things to do with Marcus that I ever really remember them complaining to me about, in letters and emails. If I was away and they had a good snowfall, they couldn’t go further than the back garden.” 

“Hmmm.” Serena, rather uncharacteristically, refrained from passing comment about Bernie’s ex husband.

“One year, I decided to surprise the family by booking a few days in a little cottage in rural Wales for over Christmas. Marcus wasn’t impressed from the outset because it hadn’t been his idea, and I hadn’t run it by him first,” Bernie recalled, and could practically _hear_ Serena’s eyes rolling.

“It wouldn’t have been a bloody surprise then, would it?” This time, Serena had failed to bite her tongue. Bernie just laughed and kissed her wife’s forehead.

“Anyway, the weather forecast had predicted snow, so I bought three plastic sleds, and stashed them in the boot of the car. For once, the meteorologists got it spot on, and we had tons of the stuff. The kids and I had an absolutely amazing time, sledding down hills, building snowmen, snowball fights, you name it. It was hands down, the best family holiday we ever had. Well, if you ignored the fact that Marcus barely spoke a word to the three of us the entire time that is. He just sat and sulked, like a spoilt child. 

Serena muttered something softly under her breath, that sounded _quite_ profane.

“Edward talked time and time again about us going on a skiing holiday, but I always refused. I knew him only too well. He would have spent the entire time in the ski lodge getting pissed, and I would have been the one left to deal with Ellie getting cold, wet and tearful. No thank you.”

“But you could have worn your beloved furry hat, my sweet,” suggested Bernie, slyly. She then squeaked, as Serena gave her bum a playful little pinch. Bernie never failed to poke gentle fun at Serena’s favourite winter headwear. 

“I suppose I don’t completely hate the snow. I don’t mind looking at it, and I do agree that fresh, undisturbed snowfall is beautiful. It’s just trying to get on with the everyday practicalities of life that it interferes with.” Serena didn’t want to completely rain on Bernie’s parade, particularly as snow clearly had such good associations for her. Heaven knew Bernie had few enough positive anecdotes to tell, from when her offspring were young. An idea suddenly occurred to Serena.

“How about I do you a deal, Bernie? If you cuddle me back to sleep now, and agree to cook us a full English breakfast when we get up, I will go out into the back garden with you, and we can build the biggest snowman you have ever attempted. Fair?” Serena could feel Bernie’s broad smile against her neck.

“You have a deal, my love,” she answered, with a huff of amusement. They always cuddled each other to sleep, and the plan had always been for Bernie to cook breakfast in the morning.

“I love you, Serena Campbell,” she whispered sleepily in Serena’s ear.

“And I Iove you, Berenice bloody Wolfe.”


End file.
